US2304995A - Peephole device - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 15, 1942. w. FRANKEL 2,304,995

PEEP-HOLE DEVICE Filed April 6, 195a INVENTOR ML 4 MW FAfl/V/(EL W4 WZW ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 15, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

The present invention relates to peep-hole devices or wickets adapted to be applied to the entrance door to an apartment or dwelling and through which visitors may be observed by the occupant of the apartment or dwelling before opening the door. Such devices constitute a safeguard, the use of which is, in most communities not only advised by law enforcing agencies, but, particularly in metropolitan areas, required by building ordinances. By means of such devices, a person presenting himself for admission to an apartment or a dwelling may be identified by the occupant of the apartment or dwelling, otherwise than by voice, before opening of the door to admit such person.

Devices of this general character of various types of construction are to be found on the market. Such devices generally comprise an assembly which includes an aperture and a closure device which may be moved from a position in which the closure covers the opening to a position in which the opening is uncovered.

The peep-hole device or wicket, constructed in accordance with my invention, is of this general type but includes certain improvements in construction which makes it particularly valuable to carry out its intended function with none of the disadvantages of the prior art structures and with certain features, hereinafter to be described in detail, which render its operation facile and certain and makes possible observance of the caller or visitor by the occupant of the apartment or dwelling through the peep-hole without the caller or visitor bein aware that he is being observed.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a peep-hole device which is self-locking upon release of the open door member constituting one of the elements thereof and which door member cannot be opened or in any wise displaced from the outside of the apartment or dwelling. A further object of the invention is to provide a construction of peep-hole device having a main and an auxiliary closure plate each movable to expose its aperture without moving the other, the relations being such that each aperture can be fully exposed. Within the main closure plate there may be positioned an element constituting a mirror, the reflecting surface thereof facing outwardly of the door to which the peep-hole device is applied, with a portion of the element constituting the mirror being unsilvered so that the occupant may peer through such unsilvered part of the mirror element without being seen by the caller or visitor, the reflection from the silvered part of the mirror preventing the visitor. from noticing that he is being observed. The mirror element may be provided with a preferably cross-like clear portion in the form of narrow bands crossing each other at right angles, as I have found that such a narrow cross-like unsilvered area provides a sufficient amount of transparency for the person peering outwardly from behind the mirror to observe a visitor without such visitor being able to see the occupant of the room or apartment, this fact being clearly demonstrable, and as indicated hereinabove, due undoubtedly to the reflection from the silvered part of the mirror. Other forms of design for the clear portion may be obviously used.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a type of locking device for the door memher which, while readily permitting opening of the closure plate from the inside, locks such plate against opening pivotal movement as soon as even slight pressure is exerted against the plate from the outside of the door or the like.

Various other objects of the invention will appear from the following more detailed description of specific embodiments of my improved con struction of peep-hole device, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a view of my improved peep-hole device as it appears from the interior of the apartment, the movable closure member carrying the mirror device and protecting glass plate being shown in its position in which it uncovers the observation aperture, in dotted lines; Fig. 2 is a section on theline 22 of Fig. 1, showing the peep-hole device with both of its movable closure members in position covering the peep-hole; Fig.

,3 is a view, partly in section, showing the movable closure member raised to a position from which it may be moved to the dotted line position thereof shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a plan view of a peep-hole device embodying the same general construction of auxiliary movable closure member or door, mirror and protecting glass plate, but showing a different type of mechanism by means of which the closure member may be moved to a peep-hole uncovering position and to be again brought to the closure position by gravity, i. e. a construction in which no initial lifting of the movable closure member is necessary for effecting its movement to the aperture uncovering position. Fig. 5 shows the device of Fig. 4 with the latch mechanism in released position permitting rotation of the closure member about its pivot; and Fig. 6 shows the same device with the movable closure member in its uppermost position, in which the aperture of the wicket is completely uncovered.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, in which similar reference characters identify similar parts in the several views, the peep-hole device or door wicket forming the subject matter of the present invention, in the form thereof shown in Figs. 1-3, consists generally of an inner assembly loand an outer member II which are provided with oppositely directed flanges l2 and I 3 adapted to line an opening M in a door l5, in a manner well understood in the art. The member I! may be of any suitable construction and forms no part of the present invention.

The inner assembly l consists of a base plate l6 which is preferably of annular form and is integral with the flange I2. The base plate is secured to the outer member I by means of a plu rality of screws ll passing through suitable openings in the door and received within threaded openings in the member I l Other ways may, of course, be employed for securing the parts I6 and VII to each other so as to clamp the door panel between them.

The base plate It is provided with a peripheral recess 8 to one side of the vertical line passing through the center of the device. A rivet i9 is secured to the plate ii, the shank of the rivet between its head and the plate l6 having been milled down, the portion of the rivet shank passing through the plate l6 being of still further reduced cross-section so that a shoulder is provided which bears against the surface of the plate I6. A movable closure member, designated as 2 0, is mounted by way of an inverted key-hole opening 2| upon the shoulder of the rivet l9. The purpose and operation of this mode of supporting the movable closure member upon the plate I6 is shown and described in detail in my co-pending application Ser, No. 122,980, filed January 29, 1937, which has issued as Patent No. 2,124,525, dated July 26, 1938, to which reference is made for further details of this portion of my novel peep-hole device.

The movable closure member is provided, in accordance with my present invention, with a raised boss 22 at the upper center of which is supported, upon a rivet 23, a small circular door or auxiliary closure member 24, such door pivoting about rivet 23 and having a finger piece 25 for effecting rotation thereof about said pivot. It will be noted that the boss 22 is raised a sumcient extent to enable the door 24 to clear the abutment constituted by the head of the rivet I9 above such boss.

Positioned within the larger movable closure member 20, so as to abut the inner peripheral edges of the boss 22 is a glass plate 26. Immediately adjacent such glass plate 26 is a second glass plate 29, the surface of which adjacent the surface of the plate 26 is silvered throughout, with the exception of a cross-like portion of the surface which is left clear of silvering, such clear area forming two narrow bands 21 and 28 crossing at right angles to each other. The plate 26 thus acts as a protecting plat for the mirror, the latter being of somewhat larger diameter than the plate 26 and being cemented to the inner peripheral edges of the closure member 210 or held in place therein by a slip spring ring. In accordance with this construction, the mirror 29 is positioned in the bore of the movable closure member of larger diameter and the protecting glass plate 26 is positioned within the bore of smaller diameter.

The small door 24 may thus, by grasping the same by the finger piece 25 and rotating it about the pivot constituted by rivet 23, be brought to a position illustrated in Fig. 1 so as to uncover the peephole and enable the occupant of the apartment or dwelling to observe, through the unsilvered cross-like part of the mirror, any person standing in front of the door, without such person being aware of the fact that he is being observed.

. The movable closure member 20 is provided,

I upon its outer surface, with a lug or stop member 30 preferably integral therewith and shaped and positioned so as to enter the recess 18 in the base plate I6 as the closure member is lowered into its closed position as hereinafter described. This lug or stop member and the recess therefor are preferably substantially triangular in configuration but are otherwise for substantially the same purpose and operate in the same manner as the similar lug and recess disclosed and described in my co-pending application hereinabove referred to. The lug or stop member 30 acts as a means of rendering the movable member self-closing as it functions to prevent the door of the device from opening to an extent greater than that shown in Fig. 1, i. e., stops the door in an open position in which its center of gravity is disposed to the right of the vertical center line of the wicket, or to the right of the vertical line passing through the axis of the rivet l9, so that the door, upon release, may drop by gravity to the closure position.

The lug 30 may be so shaped as to prevent swinging movement of the member 20 when in its lower, closed position (the lug being moved out of the recess I8 when the member 20 is lifted on the rivet l9), but as far as this function is concerned the lug may be dispensed with, particularly in view of the fact that the present construction embodies an additional form of looking means which, as hereinafter described, holds the movable member 20 against lateral movement in its closed position. Other stop means may then be provided to limit the opening movement of the member 20, that is, stop means which do not lock the member against lateral movement in its closed position.

For effecting the closure of the movable member 20, there is provided a finger piece 3i, secured to the closure member by rivet 32 extending thereinto. The closure member is provided with a slot 33, the lower portion of which is straddled by a strap 34. To one side of the slot 33 upon the closure member is provided an abutment or stop lug 35. Extending from the plate l6 outwardly and then upwardly is a projection 36 terminating in a hooked nose 3?.

In order to move the closure member so as to uncover the large aperture of the wicket, the finger piece 3| is grasped and the closure member raised a suflicient extent to clear the hooked nose 3'! of the projection 36, whereupon the closure member may be rotated about its pivot constituted of the rivet 9 to the position of such member shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. Upon release of the finger piece 3| the entire closure member will drop by gravity until the lug 35 abuts the edge of the projection 36 whereupon the closure member will drop by gravity and be Secured in closed position by the entrance of the oked nose 3'! into the slot 33, having the hooked nose engage the strap 34 straddling such slot.

It will be observed from Fig. 2 that the strap 34 is of lower height than the under edge of the hook portion 31 and also that the member 20 is capable of a certain amount of rearward play on its fulcrum l9. Accordingly, if any attempt is made to open the wicket from outside the door, the slightest rearward pressure upon the mirror .29 will cause the strap 34 to move beneath the hook 31. This makes it impossible to lift the member 20 on its fulcrum sufficiently to enable it to clear th projection 36. The wicket is thus proof against opening by p 'owlers and the like. By reason of the fact that the mechanism 34, 31 is far removed from the fulcrum IS, the strap 34 travels through a relatively large distance upon slight rearward angular movement of the member 20, so that only a very slight movement of, for example, the central portion of the member 20 is sufficient to bring the strap 34 directly beneath the hook 31.

In the embodiment of my novel peep-hole device illustrated in Figs. 4-6, substantially the same general construction is employed with the exception that a different type of mechanism for effecting the closure of the movable member is used. In such embodiment, the closure member 38, carrying the small door 24, is provided with an elongated peripheral slot 39, having a cam surface, to one side of which is provided the finger piece 40. Upon the plate 4|, equivalent to the plate IS in the embodiment of Figs. 1-3, is mounted, by means of rivet 42, a latch mechanism 43 having a cam end 44 which is adapted to engage the correspondingly inclined cam surface 45 forming one end of the slot 39. In this embodiment of my invention, the plate 4| is provided with a lug or stop 46 which is adapted to enter into a slot 41, the lug thus acting as a stop for the door in its lowered position.

In opening the closure member of this embodiment of my invention, it is not necessary to first lift the plate as in the embodiment of Figs. 1-3 but the closure member may be opened by grasping the finger piece 40 and at the same time moving the handle portion of the latch 43 up- Wardly so as to have the nose 44 of the latch disengaged from the cam surface 45, the heel portion of the latch moving along the cam surface of the arcuate slot 39, as shown in Fig. 5. The door may then be swung to a position uncovering the aperture as illustrated in Fig. 6. Upon release of the finger piece 40, the closure member will rotate about the pivot 48 and drop by gravity to the closed position, the lug 46 acting as a stop in its lowered position. The cam surfaces 44 and 45 are such as to insure locking of the door, requiring the positive action of lifting the handle of the latch in order to again open it modified type of movable closure member and latch mechanism therefor, it is to be understood that the general construction of mirror and protecting glass plate shown as applied to the embodiment of Figs. 1-3 is also applied to the embodiment of Figs. 4-6.

While I have shown and described particular embodiments of peep-hole structures embodying my improvements, it is obvious that various changes therein, particularly in the arrangement and configuration of the several parts thereof may be made without departing from my invention. Also, while I haveshown the mirror protecting plate 26 as constituted of glass, it is obvious that any other transparent material may be used therefor.

I claim:

1. A peep-hol device for doors and the like comprising a base plate having a peep-hole therein, a cover plate associated with the base plate, a pin and vertical slot connection between the base and cover plates, whereby th cover plate may be moved vertically on the base plate, a projection on the base plate approximately diametrically opposite to the pin and slot connection, a recess in the cover plate adapted to receive the projection in the closed position of the cover plate, the engagement of the projection with the sides of the recess preventing lateral movement of the cover plate.

2. A peep-hole device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the projection is provided with a hook end spaced from the body of the base plate, the cover plate having an opening into which said hook end may be received and a strap below such opening adapted to move below the hook end to be engaged thereby upon slight rearward movement of the cover plate, whereby lifting of the cover plate on its fulcrum, and thereby opening of the cover plate from outside the door, are prevented.

3. A peep-hole device as set forth in claim 1, including an abutment on the cover plate adapted to engage the projection to orient the recess therewith as the cover plate is moved toward its closed position, the cover plate thereupon sliding vertically into its lower closed position in which it is held against lateral movement by the projection.

4. In a peep-hole device for doors and the like having a base plate and a cover plate pivoted upon the base plate to one side of the vertical center line of the latter, mechanism for holding the cover plate against opening from outside the door, said locking mechanism including a twoarmed lever, on of said arms constituting a handle, and the other of said arms constituting a latch member, a recess in the cover plate adapted to receive the latch member and provided with an abutting surface engageable with the latch member to hold the cover plate against movement, said two-armed lever being rotatable to release the cover plate and being provided with a cam surface engageable by the cover plate as it moves toward closed position to swing the lever into cover plate locking position.

WILLIAM FRANKEL.

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